Sir Winston Churchill Cigar Sold at Auction

Plenty of Churchill sized cigars have been sold at auction, but very few cigars that once belonged to the legendary Sir Winston Churchill. A Cuban cigar that once belonged to Sir Winston recently fetched more than Ј2,000 at an auction held at Christie’s of London.

According to the esteemed auction house, the legendary prime minister, author and two-time former Cigar Aficionado cover story, gifted the cigar, a Cuban Camacho brand cigar, during a dinner in 1963.

An anonymous bidder paid Ј2,125 ($3,126) for the smoke.

In the lot description, Christie’s says Churchill was on a two-week vacation at the time he gave away his cigar, and that the Hotel de Paris was his preferred hotel to stay in Monte Carlo.

The cigar, originally estimated to sell for between Ј1,000– Ј1,500 ($1,600–$2,300), was part of a Churchill memorabilia sale that included diaries and letters.

The private collection, which raised Ј577,062 ($845,000), was assembled by Steve Forbes of Forbes magazine and is being sold off in three parts. The second part of the sale will take place in December in New York, and the third will be held again in London next summer.